EWING — A new threat to air-travel looms as a federal sequester may shut down operations at the Trenton-Mercer Airport control tower and could increase air-travel delays nationwide, officials announced Monday.

“You don’t need a tower to run an airport,” said County Executive Brian Hughes. “There are no regulation which prohibits an airport to function without a tower, however the tower provides an extra amount of information for flights that arrive and depart out of the airport.”

The Federal Aviation Administration contractually runs the air control tower at the airport, which employs five controllers and a supervisor. The tower currently operates between 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Friday of a looming $600 million dollar cut to the FAA, a byproduct of the automatic budget cuts set to go into effect on March 1. The sequestration, or partial governmental shutdown, will cause select air traffic controllers from around the county to take mandated furloughs of up to two weeks and completely shut down tower operations at 100 smaller local airports nationwide.

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“Flights to major cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco could experience delays of up to 90 minutes during peak hours because we will have fewer controllers on staff,” LaHood advised in a note to federal agencies like the Department of Defense, Airlines for America, the National Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

While Gov. Chris Christie is working with the president and federal officials to minimize — or possibly avoid — spending cuts which experts believe could throw the country into another recession, New Jersey State Lt. Governor Kim Guadango visited the airport on Monday to discuss the possible repercussions of shutting down operations at the Trenton-Mercer County Airport tower. Behind a closed door meeting, Senior Vice President of Commercial for Frontier Airlines Daniel Schurz, joined county and state executives to advise the acting governor of how a vacant tower may effect flight times in and out of the newly revitalized airport.

“In a city like Philadelphia, where you have so many carriers, you don’t have to have a tower to run the airport because the planes in front of you could tell a pilot what the weather conditions are, and what the runway condition is,” said Shurz. “In Trenton, because we are the only commercial carrier here, there isn’t necessarily a plane in front to advise, and the primary risk is arrivals when the weather is bad and less information about the runway it could divert or delay the flight. Schedule integrity is more difficult,” he said.

In January, Frontier Airlines increased the number of departures from the airport to five destinations, including a seasonal flight schedule to New Orleans. The airline plans on doubling the number of departures in April. The airline executive confirmed that shutting down the tower at the airport does not necessarily translate into shutting down their operations. “We don’t have any immediate plans to pull out,” said Shurz.

Over $30 million dollars of federal and state grant monies have paid for a number of airport improvements which are currently under development or are already completed, according to the County Executive. “In addition to acting as headquarters for many top aviation interests and host to various celebrities, TTN has been a consistent economic engine for the region,” Hughes wrote in a letter to the Lt. Governor justifying the need to keep the airport efficient and effectively growing. “Trenton-Mercer Airport accounted for over $250 million in total economic activity and more than 2000 jobs in the area with a payroll of over $94 million.”

Although Guadango refused to answer any questions during an impromptu press conference and tour of the facility, Hughes shared her thoughts, “She said they, (Gov. Christie and other state representatives) are working through the government at the White House to reach a settlement before sequestering kicks in.”